NATIONAL CHOCOLATE MILKSHAKE DAY UPDATES
Here's to Milk Shakes - The World's First Energy Beverage!
-Multiple news services report Rep. Kevin McCarthy (SINO-R, CA) will bow to the demands of the UltraMAGA leaders who control House Republicans and claim that an impeachment inquiry of President Biden - despite serious doubts as to whether he has enough votes to do so and the admission of allies like Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) that no evidence whatsoever exists according to the "rules" - is still a "logical next step" and will allow a motion to hit the floor. UltraMAGA leader Rep. Matt Gaetz (Hey GuRl, FL, man) will discuss a timeline and a fig leaf to begin, and that fig leaf of course will be America's Worst of the Worst of the Worst of the Worst, Hunter Biden (DUUUUUUUMMMMdumdum).
-Though it must be said that GOP disinformation about Hunter is hurting his father in polling, with 61% of respondents falsely believing Joe Biden is covering up for Hunter in some way, shape, or form. (Also, Joe Biden is OLD - DID YOU KNOW JOE BIDEN IS OLD OLD OLD OLD OLD??!?!?!?!)
-Back to the House, where the apparently imminent impeachment inquiry will take priority over passing a budget, though the combination is pointing towards another UltraMAGA priority: shutting down the Federal government on or around September 30. UltraMAGAts have demanded the impeachment vote take place before any budget votes, and the combination of multiple poison pills that will never pass the Senate or be signed into law by the White House and the ongoing concerns over the physical condition of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have some beginning to plan for a shutdown, which has generally not gone well for the party who triggers said shutdown heading into an election year.
-Meanwhile, Ex-President Trump XCI has moved to try to remove Judge Tanya Chutkan from his upcoming trial in connection with four January 6-related charges, claiming Chutkan is massively biased against Trump. Most observers see the move as nothing more than another delay tactic that Trump is know for - and also note that Trump has a habit of trying to remove female judges of color from cases involving him.
-That last claim is somewhat highlighted from the noticeable lack of attacking on one of the OTHER judges in one of the OTHER trials he is involved in - and that would be Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed judge presiding over the Mar-a-Lago classified documents trial. Observers are noticing that, unlike the criminal proceedings everywhere else, Judge Cannon is taking her good sweet time getting around to procedural hearings that some expect her to pick, which in turn may prompt Special Prosecutor Jack Smith to seek other indictments on the documents charge in other jurisdictions (particularly NJ, where a recording shows Trump reportedly waiving one of the documents in question around took place) or removing Cannon from the trial. We shall see what happens ...
-North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is reportedly somewhere in Russia on a train heading to a meeting with fellow strongman Vladimir Putin, allegedly to cut a deal that would supply Russia with badly-needed weapons in their ongoing invasion of Ukraine. This comes as Putin tries to again claim Ukraine's counteroffensive is sputtering and failing - while at the same time Ukrainian forces successfully captured an oil rig previously controlled by Russia near occupied Crimea, and report continued steady reclaiming of land captured over two other invasions by Russia in the 2010s.
-SLAVA UKRAINI!
-Yesterday, of course, was the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon - and President Biden, because of his travels to India (for the G20 summit) and Vietnam made him the first President to not appear at Ground Zero. Republicans of course seized on this and tried to tout the heroism of their own Dear Leader by first showing a picture of Trump near Ground Zero claiming he visited there on 9/11/2001 (when the photo was clearly taken on 9/18/2001) and a "painting" of Trump wearing a New York City fireman's outfit covered in grime. Trump famously declared Trump Tower the new second tallest-building in New York mere moments after the collapse of the Towers on 9/11, and the only grime ever on his face involves Big Macs and what he calls "Fish Surprise" sandwiches.
-GOP Leader Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Z-Q-R, GA) also took the anniversary of 9/11 by again calling for states with representatives who refuse to vote for Biden to be impeached (because "F U That's Why - We're MAGA!") should secede from the union, thus continuing to make a case that what Osama Bin Laden failed to do on that day Trump and MAGA continue to try to do: break the United States apart from within.
-Ending on a positive note, Monday evenings are becoming a bit of a Female Progressive Reporter Power Bloc, with Jen Psaki set to join Rachel Maddow for two shows to start the week starting September 25 (this writer's birthday!). The move both gives Psaki a prime-time show while allowing now Tu-F host Chris Hayes to (like Maddow) produce podcasts and long-form stories as part of the MSNBC platform. Whether they will do a deep dive into reports that Joe Biden is OOOOLLLLLDDDD remains to be seen ...
-On this date in 1940, teenagers in France discovered a series of prehistoric cave drawings in a cavern near the town of Montignac. On this date in 1953, John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier. On this date in 1959, the Soviet Union launched the first space probe that would ultimately hit the moon. Notable premieres on this date: BONANZA in 1959, THE MONKEES in 1966, THE SMURFS in 1981, and ENTOURAGE in 2004. And on this date in 1992, Mae Jemison became the first African-American woman to fly in space.
-Happy Birthday to Alfred A. Knopf, Irene Joliot-Curie, Jesse Owens, Desmond Llewelyn, Tony Bettenhausen, Frank McGee, Harvey Schmidt, George Jones, Sir Ian Holm, Gunther Gebel-Williams, Henry Waxman, Mickey Lolich, Maria Muldaur, Barry White, Leonard Peltier, Joe Pantoliano, Neil Peart, Jeff Jarvis, Nina Blackwood, Peter Scolari, Hans Zimmer, Rachel Ward, Joseph Laurinaitis, Ben Folds, Paul F. Tompkins, Paul Walker, 2 Chainz, Ruben Studdard, Yao Ming, Jennifer Hudson, Alfie Allen, and Kim Nam-joon (aka RM).
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Peter Mark Roget, Marjorie Merriweather Post, Robert Lowell, Steven Biko, Anthony Perkins, Raymond Burr, Tom Ewell, Stanley Turrentine, Johnny Cash, David Foster Wallace, Jack Kramer, Claude Chabrol, Ray Dolby, Ian Paisley, Frank D. Gilroy, and Ramsey Lewis.
-Feed the Worms: Gatling Gun inventor Richard Jordan Gatling (duh!) and noted misogynist abuser Louis C.K. entered Earth on this date.
-Literary critic and noted racist and antisemite H.L. Mencken was born on this date. You decide if he gets a Happy Birthday or if he Feeds the Worms.